Combined acetylene-gas generator and lighting-buoy.



' No. 723,473. PATENTED M'AR'. 24,1903. J. J. LUYTBN; COMBINED AGETYLENE GAS GENERATOR AND LIGHTING BUOY.

APPLICATION mam APR. so, 1901. H v 1m Mann. 2 SHEETSQSHEET 1.

Fig-1- No 723,473. v I PATENTBD MAR. 24, 1903.

J. J. LUYTEN.

COMBINED AGETYLENE GAS GENERATORAND LIGHTING BUOY. APPLIOATION FILED APR. 30, 1901.

H0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET F I Gum/W m: "Dims PETERS ca, PiaoYo-Ln'nc" wasnmm'ou. u c.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFFICE.

JOHANNES JACOBUS LUYTEN, OF WELTEVREDEN, JAVA.

COMBlNED ACETYLENE-IGAS GE NER AToR AND LIGHTING-BUOY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 723,473, dated March 24, 1903.

'perial No. 58,137. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I,JoHANNEs J ACOBUS LUY; TEN, a subject of Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, residing at Weltevreden, Java, Netherlands, East Indies, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Light ing-Buoys, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in lighting-buoys for illuminating or serving as signals in waterways or the like. Heretofore gas, such as petroleum or oil gas, has

been mainly used for the purpose; but thegreat drawback to such buoys has been the necessity of frequently replenishingthem and the fact that in foggy weather their illum'i-' natingpoweris considerably diminished. Ac-

cording to myinvention I provide a construction of apparatus in which acetylene gas may be generated and used for this purpose to great advantage,the penetrating power of the light from such gasbeing greater than that from petroleum or other gas lights, the apparatus as arranged being capable of continuous operation fora prolonged period at a relatively small expense. I

An apparatus constructed according to my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the apparatus. Fig. 1 is a view of the upper half of the apparatus, the right-hand side being in section. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan on line A B, Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional plan on line C D, Fig. 1, a part of the framework being omitted. Fig. 4 is a sectional plan on line E F, Fig. 1, a part of the framework being omitted. Fig. 5 is a sectional plan on line G H, Fig. 1.

The carbid-holder 1 is mounted above the gas-holder 2. Within the gas-holder is a piston 3, carried by the hollow piston-rod 4. To secure tightness at this spot, a packing-ring 63 is arranged provided with. oil-canal and plug 64.

Connected with the gas-holder 2 is a waterpipe 5, Fig. l, which. is secured with a watertight joint in the buoy 6 by means of angleiron connection 537. This pipe passes right through the buoy'and opens at the lower end into the water below the buoy.

Thelower portion of the gas-holder 2 serves as a drying and purifying chamber for the acetylene gas. For this purpose a chamber 7, filled with coke orsuitable material,is provided between the perforated plates 8 and 9.

At the lower corner of the gas-holder 2 are connected the gas-pipes 10, which deliver the gas after passing through a reducing-valve 54 to the burner 11, which is mounted between lenses 12 in the usual manner.

The cover13 of the carbid-holder 1 is provided with six orifices 14, which can be closed by a similar number of covers 15, Figs. 1 and 2. These covers carry rods attached to or forming part of them and bolted to a sixarmed cross-pieceor bridge 16. This bridge is formed as a nut at the center and can be raised and lowered by turning the screw-spindle 17.

Inside the carbid-holder l is a cylindrical slide 18, which can be raised and lowered for the purpose of partly closing the carbidholder when filling the same while the apparatus is in work. With this object the slide 18 is connected with the rods 19, which are passed through the 'cover13 and are attached to the four-armed yoke 20, which in turn is formed as a nut at the center and canbe raised or lowered by means of the screwspindle 21.

A single hand-wheel 22 is provided for moving both the covers 15 and the cylindrical slide 18. This hand-wheel is fixed onto a rod 23, which is passed through the hollow screwspindles 17 and 21 and is loosely mounted on the cover 13, the hand-wheel 22 being in its turn loosely'conneeted by means of a spline connection to the spindle 17. The screw spindle 17 is loosely connected with the screwspindle 21 by means of a collar 65, having pins or projections 65 projecting into annular grooves in the adjoining ends of the spindles, thus forming spline connections. The spindle 21 is connected to the cover 13 by a spline connection 65 similar to the connection 65. screw-spindles and the rod 23that is to say, with the hand-wheel 22can be made by means of the key 24 in the case of screw-spin dle 17 or by means of the key 25 in the case of screw-spindle 21, so that either spindle may be rotated through the handle and rod.

The hollow piston-rod 1, which moves with A fixed connection between these IOO the piston 3 up and down in the gas-holder 2, carries at the bottom by brackets 4 (only one being shown) a second piston-rod 29, which in turn carries at its lower end a piston 31, provided with fine perforations and moving up and down in a cylinder 30. This piston serves as a bottom guide for all the connected moving parts and also, in conjunction with an annular deflecting-piece 38 in pipe 5, serves as a means for discharging the sediment, as will be more fully described later on. The cylinder is bolted onto the lower side of the buoy b by means of a flange 32 and is surrounded by a sheet-iron casing 33, which is riveted to the bottom of the buoy 6 by means of the angle-iron ring 34. A crossstay inside the sheet-iron jacket 33 is fitted with an eye 36 for the attachment of the anchor-chain.

A flexible washer-valve 49 is arranged on the piston-rod 29 and moves up and down with same in a guide-tube 51, which is connected to the gratings 8 and 9 of the dryingchamber 7. This washer-valve is pressed lightly against the inside of the guide-tube 51 by means of fiat springs 50 and closes the passage in such guide-pipe 51 until the piston has reached the lower end of its stroke; but it is then released by passing the lower edge of the guide-pipe 51.

The hollow piston-rod 4 is prolonged above the piston 3 in an upward direction and is there guided by a pipe 42, attached to the cover 13 of the carbid-holder, which projects into the interior of the hollow piston-rod 4. At the top this pipe is provided with two orifices 43. On the upper edge of the pistonrod 4 is a small annular recess 44 all around said edge and sloping inwardly to the pipe 42. When the piston 3 has reached the upper end of its stroke, this recess will have just passed the orifices 43.

The interior of the carbid-holder is fitted with a cylindrical partition 45 for regulating the feed of carbid.

Connected with the water-pipe 5 is a bent pipe 26, which is closed at the top by a cap 27 and at the bottom by a valve 28. This pipe serves for the purpose of starting the apparatus, and it can be put into communication wi'th the water-pipe 5 by opening the valve 28.

The gas-holder 2 is provided with air-pipes 46 at the top, while sampliug-cocks 47 are placed in the sides.

The carbid-holder 1 is provided with inspection-windows 48.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 1", the gas-holder is surrounded by strong clamp-irons 52, attached to the uprights 39 by means of guiding-eyes 40. The uprights 39 are attached to the buoy 6, and the lens-box 12 is supported by a cross-head 53, connecting the upward prolougations of these uprights. In addition small service-platforms 41 are mounted at a convenient height on the uprights 39 to enable the parts to be reached by the necessary attendants.

The operation is asfollows: Assuming the carbid-holder l to be empty, the piston 3 will take up its lowest position in the gas-holder. The carbid-holder is now filled with carbid, for which purpose the covers 15 are raised by means of the hand-wheel 22 and turned slightly to bring them into the position shown in Fig. 2, the key 24 of course being first inserted to connect the rod 23 with the handwheel. When the apparatus is charged, the covers 15 are screwed down again, as shown in Fig. 1. To start the' apparatus, the bent pipe 26, Fig. 1, is filled with eat-bid, (the valve 28 being closed.) and after said pipe has been closed again bymeans of the cap 27 the valve 28 is opened, whereupon the carbid falls down into the water-pipe 5 and acety lene gas is liberated. This gas after passing through the drying and purifying apparatus 7 collects below the piston 3 in the gas-holder 2 and forces this piston upward as soon as sufficient pressure is developed. The gasholder gradually becomes filled with gas, the air present above the piston escaping through the air-pipes 46. As soon as acetylene gas issues from the upper sampling-cock 47 the gas-holder will be quite full of gas and the piston 3 will have attained its highest position. The acetylene gas thenv flows through the supply-pipes 10 to the burner 11 after its pressure has been diminished in the reducing-valve 54, and from this time forward the action of the apparatus is automatic. As the piston moves upward a small quantity of car bid is carried up from the carbid-holder by the recess 44 on the top of the piston-rod 4, which carbicl falls down through the orifices 43 in the pipe 42 and collects on the washer-valve 49. When the carbid introduced through the bent pipe has all been decomposed, the evolution of gas ceases, the tension in the gas-holder diminishes, and the piston 3 descends under the influence of its own weight. Before, however, the piston has arrived at its lowest position the washer-valve 49 passes beyond the lower edge of the guide 51, whereby the carbid resting on the valve 49 drops therefrom into the water and the evolution of acetylene begins again. The piston 3 is forced upward again and carries up with it a fresh quantity of carbid. This operation is repeated continuously so long as any carbid remains in the holder 1. When a glance through the inspecting-window 48 shows that it is time to recharge the oarbid-holder, this. can be done in the following manner without interrupting the work: The key 25 is put into position to lock the rod 23 to the screw-spindle 21, and the latter is then turned by ineans of the hand-wheel. The bridge 20 is moved downward and carries with it the cylindrical slide 18, attached to the rods 19. This slide fits tightly against the interior wall of the carbid-holder, shutting by so doing the inte rior of the apparatus off from the chargingorifices 14. The covers 15 can now be raised, as before described. When the holder 1 has been recharged, the orifices 14 are again closed and the slide 18 is raised. The sediment left from the gas-generating process collects with the still undecomposed portions of carbid on the piston 31 in the cylinder 30.'

In order to prevent the first particles of sediment and carbid from immediately falling into the cylinder 33 and. from hence into the sea, the annular deflecting-piece 38 is arranged in the water-pipe 5'a little distance above its lower end. The coarser particles of the undecomposed carbid, from which the gas has not yet been completely disengaged, gather on top of the piston 31 and find here ample time to decompose, and when totally exhausted this sediment is raised in the upward stroke of the piston 31 at the moment a fresh amount of carbid is fed andliberated, and it slides away over the upper edgeof the cylinder 30 into the cylinder 33, and hence into the sea. 7

The water-pipe 5 forms the safety-Valve of the apparatus. At the pressure usually prevailing the water-level in the pipe 5 is forced down into the position represented in Fig. 1. Should the pressure become exceptional, owing to an excessive liberation of gas, the latter will continue to force the water in the pipe 5 downward until it finally escapes into the large cylinder 33, where it can expand sufficiently and whence it can gradually return to the apparatus.

Having now particularly described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a lighting-buoy, a pipe opening into the water, a gas-chambercommu nicatin g with said pipe, a piston in said gas-chamber adapted to be raised by the presence of gas therein, a carbid-holder, means connected with the said piston and working in said carbidreceptacle to take a small quantity of carbid from the said receptacle when the piston rises under the pressure of the gas, means for holding the said small quantity or charge until the piston descends and for then discharging the said charge into the said waterpipe, and a conduit to lead the gas away from the gas-chamber, substantially as described.

2. In a lighting-buoy, a gas-chamber, a piston therein, a carbid-holder, a hollow part connected with the piston and working in the carbid-receptacle for taking a charge of carbid, when the piston rises, said charge falling down through the hollow part, a valve for holding said charge so long as the piston remains up, said valve discharging the said charge when the piston falls upon the lessoning of the gas-pressure in the gas-chamber and a pipe below the valve containing a body of water, said pipe communicating with the gas-chamber, substantially as described.

3. In a lighting-buoy, a pipe opening to the water, a carbid-holder, a cover for same having orifices therein, a gas-holder beneath same in communication with the pipe, a piston in such holder, means carried by such piston and passing into the carbid-holder for raising a small quantity of carbid out of same when the piston rises, means for discharging it into the water-pipe when the piston falls, means for shutting ofi a portion of the carbid-holder, means for opening and closing the orifices in the cover and a burner, and connections between the same in the gas-holder, substantially as described.

4. In a lighting-buoy, a water-pipe 5, a gasholder 2, a piston in same, a hollow piston-rod 4, a carbid-holder 1 into which the piston-rod extends, guide-pipes 42 and 51 for the rod 4, a piston-rod 29 carried by the rod 4, a washervalve 49 carried by the latter and movable in pipe 51, a piston 31 carried by rod 29, a cylinder30 for such piston, a carbid-supply pipe 26 for the pipe 5, having means for closing the same, and means carried by the extension of piston-rod 4 and coacting with openings 43 in guide-pipe 42 whereby carbid maybe dropped onto valve 49, substantially as described.

5. In a lighting-buoy, a Water-pipe 5, a'carbid-of-calcium-delivering apparatus, a gasholder connected with such pipe, and anex pansion-chamber 33 beneath such buoy with which pipe 5 connects whereby the gas-pressure in the holder and pipe may be relieved, substantially as described.

6. In a lighting-buoy, a burner, a carbid-of calcium holder, a cover having orifices there in, a slide-plate 18 adapted to shut off a part of such carbid-holder, a screw 21 loosely carried by the cover, a second screw 17 loosely connected thereto in line with same, a rod 23 loosely connected to the cover and passing through both screws, a hand-wheel carried by the rod, means for connecting each screw as desired with the rod, a bridge-piece carried by each screw, covers for the orifices of the carbid-cover, and connections between one of the bridge-pieces and such covers and with the other bridge-piece and the plate 18 in the carbid-holder, so that the inner portion of the latter may be shut off when the covers are opened for charging, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHANNES JACOBUS LUYTEN.

Witnesses:

OH. MIGUEL, CH. W. GRANT.

too 

